LaunchCode wins MIT Innovation challenge, $150K award
October 17, 2017 | Bobby Burch
LaunchCode, a nonprofit that bolsters the tech workforces in St. Louis and Kansas City by offering free but rigorous coding courses, was recently recognized for its innovative approach to reinventing the future of work.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced that LaunchCode is a grand prize winner of its 2017 Inclusive Innovation Challenge, awarding the nonprofit $150,000. More than 160 judges selected LaunchCode and three other organizations for the grand prizes out a field of more than 1,000 applicants. In total, MIT awarded $1 million to organizations building inclusive innovations for the competition, which aims for “not only prosperity, but shared prosperity,” said MIT Sloan Professor Erik Bryniolfsson, director of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy.
Founded in 2013 by Jim McKelvey, LaunchCode arrived in Kansas City in early 2016. Between 2013 and 2016, the organization has made more than 500 direct placements of “LaunchCoders” into apprenticeships or permanent positions, according to LaunchCode’s annual report.
LaunchCode partners with a variety of Kansas City companies — including EyeVerify, UMB, Blooom and Venture360 — and connecting with the region’s developers. The nonprofit’s goal is to support Kansas City’s tech ecosystem and provide a new pipeline of homegrown tech talent.
Here’s more about LaunchCode.
“The growing tech economy is creating a huge number of well-paying, upwardly mobile jobs – far more than colleges, universities, and for-profit bootcamps can fill – which offer immense financial and professional rewards for those equipped to participate. Moreover, coders increasingly have the power to make decisions that shape society’s development. However, most Americans lack access to the training that would allow them to enter tech careers, particularly those with the fewest resources and the most to gain from developing valuable new skills. LaunchCode is solving this disconnect by providing free, accelerated job training using a low-cost, scalable model to quickly replicate in-person coding classes across the country. Additionally, we place our graduates into paid apprenticeships with hundreds of companies to help them transition into full-time employment in tech despite lacking traditional credentials. We partner with employers to determine their needs and establish LaunchCode as a trusted source of talent.”
Related Posts on Startland News
Feds award $500K for Goodwill, LaunchCode jobs training effort through STEM Tech Challenge
Nearly a half-million dollars in federal funds are expected to help two local programs forge a new STEM-based job training initiative to help Kansas City-region job seekers find permanent high-wage careers in tech. U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, D-Kansas, on Wednesday announced a $499,196 award from the U.S. Department of Commerce to Goodwill MoKan (Goodwill of…
KC wants to be the nation’s most equitable hub for biologics; prestigious MIT pick could help
Biologics is the entryway to personalized medicine, said Sonia Hall, and Kansas City is aiming to create the most inclusive hub for the development, production and distribution of biologics as part of its acceptance to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program. “When you talk about personalized medicine, you’re talking about greater equity…
Facebook-bound software engineer: Senior year at MIT ‘ripped away’ by COVID-19
Editor’s note: The following is part of Startland News’ ongoing coverage of the impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) on Kansas City’s entrepreneur community, as well as how innovation is helping to drive a new normal in the ecosystem. Click here to follow related stories as they develop. A global pandemic and social distancing weren’t part of the…
Downtown innovation district: Developers envision 30-story Lightwell project as its own startup hub
It’s possible the Lightwell building’s exterior hasn’t been cleaned since 1977, joked Tim Schaffer as he walked a vine-wrapped rooftop terrace that overlooks downtown Kansas City. “It was totally unintentional, the way it came together,” Schaffer, president of AREA Real Estate Advisors, said of the multi-million-dollar office redevelopment project that’s quickly evolved into what Schaffer…